SFSU has positioned itself to become one of the most research-active comprehensive minority-serving undergraduate institutions in the country through an integrated plan for increasing biomedical and behavioral research. Faculty and administrators share a vision of research as an integral component in the experience of educational excellence and, with the support of programs such as RIMI and MBRS, have worked diligently to ensure that our diverse students are provided with opportunities to contribute to the nation's research enterprise. We now propose to implement a new RIMI program to assist the behavioral science faculty in competing successfully for research funding while increasing the health disparities research capacity of faculty through strong collaborative research partnerships with one of the country's premiere research intensive universities. The first of these goals will be accomplished through an annual Faculty Professional Development program that engages each participating faculty member in focused, intensive grant writing activities with an external mentor from a major research university. Through these mentorships and ongoing workshops, SFSU faculty will write competitive proposals and obtain funding for innovative research into health disparities. The mentored experience will allow them to develop critical research networks and collaborative proposals for leading-edge health disparities research, as well as involve students directly in their research and develop new connections at research-intensive institutions where their students may later wish to pursue advanced studies. The second major goal will be accomplished through two major collaborative research partnerships, one by Drs. Denetclaw (SFSU) and Holleran (UCSF) studying ectoderm dermomyotome signaling through filopodia, and the other by Drs. Yoo (SFSU) and Ewing, Aviv and Levine (UCSF) investigating social support and quality of life among breast cancer survivors of diverse ethnicities. These partnerships will strengthen the capacity for biomedical and behavioral health disparities research at SFSU and will develop productive collaborations between minority faculty and UCSF researchers. Our proposed RIMI program thus presents an ideal opportunity to provide SFSU faculty and students with new mechanisms for achieving excellence in biomedical and behavioral research.